From Photo Backups to My Own Cloud Server: My Trip Into Home Data Storage

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The clock started ticking three years ago when I learned Drobo was going out of business. That name not ringing a bell? Drobo made external storage devices that bundled hard drives into an easy, set-it-and-forget-it RAID configuration for people like me who wanted to keep our data safe and in one place.

My family bought one in early 2009, when my daughters were little, and we were concerned about protecting all the baby photos and videos we'd collected. The Drobo, with its four hard drive bays, seemed like a good place to park our media and other data in addition to creating online backups using Google Photos, iCloud and Flickr as our off-site protection.

For the next 17 years, the Drobo never failed us. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't attached to any network, and its USB 2.0 and Firewire ports were soon left behind by devices with faster connections. But as reliable, if slow, external storage, it did the job and was a stalwart under-the-desk companion. Although network-attached versions of my device and competitors eventually put this type of storage on home networks, the Drobo was a preview of what the marketplace would look like in about 15 years. Network-attached storage devices, or NAS, would become more attractive, easier to set up and use and increasingly important for those who want to wrangle and use their data in addition to backing it all up.

At the time, the Drobo was all I needed. When I primarily used a Mac, I backed up to the Drobo using Time Machine. When I moved full-time to a Windows PC, I made sure to update backups regularly, even though most of my important files were synced to cloud services more frequently.

It took me until this year to find the right replacement for the Drobo, even though I knew that a hardware failure in a gadget no longer supported by its maker could be a big problem for my data.

So I started looking. And I got lost and confused very quickly. This is my journey into the rabbit hole that is network-attached storage.

What's changed since the Drobo days

When I started looking online for devices that could replace my Drobo, I found that the only people still talking about it were photographers and video editors, with blog posts detailing how they'd migrated their image libraries to faster, bigger storage solutions.

Everyone else talking about the type of solution I was looking for seemed to have evolved into a different type of gadget lover altogether. They were NAS enthusiasts, hungry for more and more space. Critically, they weren't just looking for the safest, easiest way to park their data securely. They were expanding on all the things their NAS could do beyond just storing files.

They bragged about devices that could stream 4K video to people inside and outside their homes using apps like Jellyfin and Plex. They used their NAS devices to host Minecraft servers and run home security hardware on virtual machines. They downloaded media files, added them to their home libraries, and synced them with their smartphones.

Some were already using their NAS servers to run AI tools like OpenClaw to automatically manage their stored files or to carry out media search-and-assimilation missions to find movies or TV shows. (Not all of this activity, as you might imagine, is strictly legal.)

A common thread in discussions about NAS devices involved owners trying to wrest back control of their photo libraries and fed up with paying for streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. The term "data sovereignty" came up a lot. That's a term that could apply to how governments and AI companies manage your cloud data, but it's also become a way for NAS owners to justify the time and money they spend on network storage. These people say they want to rely less on streaming services and cloud storage and keep their data local. Many of these NAS owners are also in the seemingly never-ending process of digitizing their physical media -- CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and even 4K discs -- to build out their digital media libraries.

The NAS devices I was seeing still used less power than a PC but included powerful enough processors and enough memory to make them full-blown personal servers. They could transcode 4K video and serve it to multiple users, or run autonomous processes full-time. I wasn't sure I was ready to dive so deeply into all of these ways to use a NAS, but I was pretty convinced I wanted one to start exploring those possibilities.

Hardware price hikes make for harder NAS decisions

If I'd bought an NAS device when Drobo exited the market in 2023, I would have saved a bundle.

Unfortunately, I made this decision in the middle of RAMageddon, as memory prices and PC component costs skyrocketed. That includes traditional hard drives, SSDs and NVMe solid-state drives that modern NAS devices use.

On Reddit thread after Reddit thread, I saw NAS owners complain about the high price of storage for their growing needs and how many of them were taking to eBay or stripping out old servers for high-capacity industrial-life hard drives that could be repurposed for NAS storage.

NAS owners debated the merits of a few leading companies known for quality NAS products, including industry leader Synology, QNAP, Asustor and a younger upstart, Ugreen. Each of these manufacturers offers a range of devices, some with two hard drive bays, some with four or more, some meant for entry-level consumers, others for businesses with critical data needs.

My takeaway was that Synology had the strongest software ecosystem, but even its most loyal customers were frustrated by hardware that had become increasingly dated and uncompetitive. QNAP and Asustor each had their fans, but Ugreen began to stand out for its intuitive interface and flexibility. Even if you weren't a fan of its built-in operating system or its relatively limited app ecosystem, you could install an open-source NAS operating system such as TrueNAS or Unraid instead.

I began pricing used devices on Facebook Marketplace and eBay, hoping to get a sweetheart deal from someone upgrading, but other people had the same idea. Low-price used devices are in short supply, and most of the ones I found for sale were so old they were no longer supported.

I was also pricing used hard drives: It seemed like two good NAS options were Seagate's IronWolf series and Western Digital's Red Plus drives (they also sell a Red Pro line). Iron Wolf drives are meant to last and are super reliable. Red Plus drives are also meant for the long haul, while remaining quiet. I wasn't sure yet whether my NAS device would be placed in my office or living room, but I didn't want the sound of server-grade hard drives grinding and clicking 24/7.

Loading the 2 bays of the Synology NAS DS720+

My four-bay Drobo had 4TB of hard drive space; with RAID redundancy, that left about 2.7TB of usable storage. Even with everything backed up, I am still using only a fraction of that space. But I wanted to at least double that. I began pricing devices with at least four bays. I didn't want to be limited to two hard drives, and I knew that, for a RAID configuration, having only two would cost me half my storage space. Drobo handled those decisions for me. Now I had to understand RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 6, each offering its own trade-offs in capacity, performance and fault tolerance.

Other things to consider when purchasing: Some NAS devices are limited by their Ethernet ports to, say, 1 Gbps (the speed of a basic Google Fiber internet connection), while others offer multiple ports that can handle multiple file requests at speeds of 2.5 Gbps per port or even 10 Gbps. This matters if you plan to move large data files, stream 4K movies from your NAS or serve multiple people simultaneously. I also wanted to make sure whatever I bought could use faster SSDs and NVMe drives, had a capable processor that wouldn't age out quickly and had RAM that could be upgraded later if I chose to expand my needs.

In the end, I opted against used hardware. A flash sale on Ugreen's DXP4800 Pro on Amazon and the availability of three WD Red Plus 4TB drives at Walmart and Adorama got the best of me. I wasn't going to spend the money on NVME drives yet. The model I was buying has two slots for them in addition to the hard drive slots.

Between the Amazon discount and cash back from my credit card, the NAS cost about $700. The three hard drives cost me about $160 each. It was a lot more than I'd initially planned to spend. I rationalized that if the device lasted even half as long as my Drobo had, it would still be a worthwhile investment — both for protecting my family's data and for finally getting my digital life organized.

Looking back, the hardest part of becoming a NAS user was simply deciding what to buy.

A snazzy new NAS

My hard drives and the DXP4800 Pro arrived, and I got to work setting up. I was surprised to find that unboxing the NAS, installing the hard drives and connecting it to my router and TV via HDMI took less than half an hour.

I downloaded Ugreen's NAS app on my phone, and it found the device on my home network without any extra steps or troubleshooting. None of my files were on the device yet, but I was surprised by how quickly it was set up and ready to go.

Over the next few days, I experimented and made decisions about how to set things up. I installed the Ugreen app on my PC and created folders for backups and documents, plus a shared space for photos, videos and music that my family could access from their own devices.

A desktop OS screen for Ugreen UGOS Pro. Windows open show the status of hard drives in addition to icons for apps.

That's when things started to get complicated. Did I want to stick with Ugreen's own operating system or explore other options? For simplicity, I opted for the built-in software.

Did I want to use Plex or Jellyfin for my media? Or both? Jellyfin is listed as a native app on Ugreen's operating system (Plex is not), but it requires a separate piece of software called Docker. Docker creates virtual containers for software like Jellyfin and is easy to set up and install. But it involves getting your head around the idea that you're now a system administrator of virtual systems and that these instances are meant to run all the time unless you manually shut them down. After a few failed attempts to point Jellyfin to the wrong directories, I finally got it running and was impressed by its slick interface.

I also had to decide whether to migrate all my photos to Ugreen's photo management app. I decided to only add new photos and deal with my archives later. This came in handy during a recent Pokemon Go trip, when I shared a folder with friends so we could all add photos and videos to a private cloud space. The same went for a few comics that I own (Ugreen has its own app for comics and graphic novels) and video files of movies I'd ripped from DVDs ages ago. I gathered the files I had across computer hard drives and transferred them into new NAS folders titled Movies, Comics, Music and TV Shows.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Plus 4 Bay desktop NAS on yellow background

I want to access and share my media from anywhere, which the Ugreen NAS app handles well, but I've been cautious about third-party apps like Jellyfin. I've seen plenty of warnings from hard-core NAS users that any NAS exposure to the internet is a risk to personal data. It's also the reason I haven't tried OpenClaw. I'm not familiar enough with home network security to trust an AI agent with my NAS data, and I'm not sure I ever will be.

Before migrating all my backups and data to the NAS, I made a few hardware upgrades. I added an APC UPS for about $80, as frequent thunderstorms had me worried. Power outages can put NAS data at risk, so I wanted to protect my new investment. The unit was also on Ugreen's compatibility list and connects via USB, allowing the NAS to shut down safely before the battery runs out.

I also added a network switch to increase my home network's bandwidth to 2.5 Gbps. Ugreen makes a switch that plays nice with no hassles for another $50. It gave me more high-speed ports, including two for the connections going to the NAS.

That paid off when I began moving thousands of files across the network to their new home on the NAS. What took several days with the Drobo took less than an hour across my recently upgraded home network.

NAS lessons learned

Even though it felt like I absorbed a whole new language (NASspeak?) on my journey, I still have tons to learn. I'm not completely comfortable with ideas like port forwarding and reverse proxies, and I'm behind on my goal of setting up accounts for my daughters and other family members to access photos and other files.

Some NAS experts don't think you should expose your network-attached storage to anyone outside your home network, even if you trust the person accessing your data. It makes your data more vulnerable while offering features you can likely already handle on your PC or Mac.

But the goal for me wasn't just to back up my data and keep it locked away. I wanted to let my daughters explore baby photos and videos they've never seen. I wanted to be able to consolidate years of photos, videos and music and organize it all. That's still a distant, but achievable goal.

A screenshot of the media application Jellyfin with episodes of a TV show GetBackers in thumbnails.

There's some decision paralysis. The NAS can do so much, but each new step is a project that takes time and dedication to see through.

I can tell you a few lessons I've learned so far.

A NAS is not a complete backup solution. You can mitigate the risk of hard drive failure with a RAID setup, and you can duplicate your files across all your devices to a NAS, but that still doesn't protect you in case of a fire, burglary or a device failure that takes out all the drives at once. NAS owners preach the gospel of 3-2-1 backups: three copies of your important files on two different types of media and one off-site backup. That could be your computer and phone's original files, a NAS backup and a cloud backup site such as iDrive, Carbonite or Backblaze. A NAS can be part of a backup plan, but it's not the total solution.

If you actively use your NAS, you will always feel you need more storage. Hard drive prices are a nice reality check, but once you realize the possibilities for a NAS, it's easy to feel pinched. A long time ago, I did voice work on an anime show called GetBackers. I still have all 10 DVDs for the full run of the show. Once I got my NAS set up, I thought I'd back up all the DVDs in case my 20-year-old discs wear out. But three episodes into digitizing the files, including subtitles and the original Japanese audio track, I realized I might end up using dozens, perhaps hundreds of gigabytes for just one show. And this was just the first of 10 DVDs.

You'll want more space, but you may not be able to afford it now. All told, I spent about $1,300: $700 for the Ugreen NAS, almost $500 for the hard drives and more than $100 for a battery backup and new network switch. I would have loved to equip my NAS with solid-state drives to transfer data even faster and to invest in gigantic 18TB drives. But the prices are simply too high right now. I wasn't willing to spend thousands more on storage when my needs, for now, are modest. A few years ago, this would have been a much less expensive project.

Help is available for every little problem. Between Reddit, Google and YouTube, every question I had about setting up or using my NAS was answered. And based on the communities I've frequented, the ones that can't be answered can be solved with AI. Many Reddit threads I saw were full of power NAS users telling tales of how they used Claude to walk them through setting up their Docker containers or writing new code to introduce a feature not included in their device's operating system. If owning a NAS turns you into the family's IT administrator, at least there's a whole IT department of fellow NAS users, and their AI assistants, who can also help.

No one wants to hear about your NAS. Outside of people in NAS subreddits (and perhaps anyone reading this article?), nobody in your life is patient enough to hear about your awesome NAS device. Not your significant other, not your kids, not friends you can otherwise talk tech with. Network-attached storage is boring. Want to kill a conversation in 10 seconds? Start by talking about how you got Jellyfin to display movie posters with MPAA ratings, or how quickly you were able to transfer a 25GB file across your home network. Make friends in the Reddit NAS groups, then keep it to yourself.

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